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The Ottoman Empire ( 1299 ) Essay

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Empire, Ottoman The Ottoman Empire (1299?1923) was a Turkish-Muslim state that existed for more than six hundred years. It was one of the largest and longest-lived empires in history, and it represented one of the greatest civilizations of the modern period. Its territories, at its height, included Anatolia (part of present-day Turkey), the Middle East, parts of East and North Africa, and southeastern Europe, comprising a total area of more than 22 million square kilometers (about 8.5 million square miles). The Ottoman state was established by a tribe of Oghuz Turks as one of many small Turkish principalities that emerged in Anatolia during the Mongolian breakdown of the Anatolian Seljuk State. The state was ruled by the Ottoman dynasty of the Kayi tribe. The dynasty was founded by Osman I (ca. 1258?1324; in English, Ottoman) in S?g??t, in the Marmara region of modern Turkey. THE PERIOD OF ESTABLISHMENT AND EXPANSION Situated on the borders of the tottering Byzantine Empire, Osman I quickly became a warrior of Islam, attracting the attention of wandering ghazis, or warriors for the faith, in Anatolia. In 1299 the Byzantine city Bilecik fell to Turks. This conquest was followed by the fall of many other Byzantine cities, villages, and forts during the early 1300s. Some of the nearby Turkish beyliks (principalities) and tribes were also taken over before Osman 's death around 1324. Osman 's son Orhan (r. 1326?1362) conquered Bursa in 1326. Bursa became the first Ottoman

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